Good on Alan Kelly TD for raising the issue -- it is clearly happening and is clearly anti-competitive market manipulation by the big brewers.

He said a pub in Cork he was in recently had 21 taps of which 19 were from one brewing company and that smaller breweries tried to get some of that business. Mr Kelly claimed similar practices were occurring in pubs across all counties and that the statutory body that deals with anti-competitive practices, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC), had received a number of complaints but did not have the resources to deal with the issue.

However, Minister of State Pat Breen said “after a robust examination” the CCPC found it did not have grounds to suspect a breach of the law.

Mr Kelly said that “the dogs in the street know what is happening here” and that the Minister’s response was insulting to the industry. He said the CCPC would need large resources to investigate the issue and “large amounts of cash and resources are being used, and these practices are happening in large pubs in all cities and towns in Ireland”.